peacefulpete

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Topics Started by peacefulpete

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  13

  So Let's Say Bigger Change Happens

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if a change in the blood policy happens, who will be more upset, jws or former jws?

  i suspect the latter.

  when the beard thing went down, jw's seem to immediately embrace it, whereas many former jw's have been brooding about it.. did it take away a pet gripe we had?.

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  56

  Can God Change his Mind?

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  is 31:yet he also is wise and will bring disaster and does not retract his words.. 1 sam 15: furthermore, the eternal one of israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.. numbers 23: god is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes his mind.

  does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?.

  when the god you worship pronounces judgement, is he, really just issuing a warning or has the matter been determined through all the godly powers of insight, foresight and perfect judgement?

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  6

  Funny Money

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i ran across this piece of history again and thought i'd share it before i forget it again.

  we discussed the story in mark featuring the image of caesar on a coin as setup for the famous line, "give caesar's things to caesar...".

  the writer was apparently unaware that the roman coinage circulating in judea did not have the usual image of caesar but rather depicted barley or palms and such and was often minted in judea.

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  6

  Finger of God

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a myriad (or close) of threads have discussed the depiction of deity in the ot and nt.

  many exjws simply can't seem to wrap their minds around the concept of hypostases of god.

  hypostases as i'm using the term refer to personified conceptualizations of divinity often acting in a particular role.

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  56

  Old Greek Daniel's Son of Man

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  again this is large topic, some of which has been discussed elsewhere on this site.

  the basic question i want to discuss is the identification of the 'someone like a son of man" in daniel 7. as we all know christians understood the figure to be the messiah (christ), so the question posed is did the author intend it to be a singular personage or a collective symbol of the holy of israel as jews typically read it?

  or how about the unexpected idea that the "someone like a son of man" was the very same character as the "ancient of days" in another role?.

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  9

  The Akedah

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the genesis 22 episode, often referred to as the akedah (aqueda) ie "the binding" is a topic worthy a masterclass in textual and theological development.

  a comprehensive discussion regarding this development would involve volumes and still leave much to be uncertain.

  in short, the internal contradictions the narrative offers as it appears in genesis have inspired millennia of interpretive expansions and elaborations.

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  2

  Lost Gospel Series

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i thought it would be fun to take a brief look at various gospels in use by christians of the first few centuries ce.

  one each week.

  a few weeks back i posted regarding the egerton gospel which i cleverly misspelled edgerton gospel.. for now consider the oxyrhynchus gospel 840:.

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  6

  Quince?

  by peacefulpete in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone have a quince tree?

  we found one growing by a large brick building and picked some fruit last summer.

  a bit too far north normally but this one survives.

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  Rainbow Spirit Christ

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just found an interesting article describing and defending the recent syncretic conceptualization of christianity in aboriginal australia called rainbow spirit theology.

  (5) rainbow spirit and the cosmic christ | philip cox - academia.edu.

  to sum up the essay, the aboriginal conception of deity, as pervasive in the land and cosmic in scope, was lost through the narrow confines of christianity bound by limited storyline and text.

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  21

  Christians Encouraged to Read 'Pagan' Works

  by peacefulpete in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  clement of alexandria.

  the stromata, or miscellanies.

  book vi.

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